AABB2026: Diversifying the Donor Base

Diversifying the donor base is a business and operational priority for blood collectors, not only an inclusion goal, and any organization can begin the work without a large budget, two presenters from Vitalant told attendees in the session “The Future of Blood Donation: Why Diversifying the Donor Base Matters and How Every Organization Can Start.” May Dobbins and Erica Newhard shared the results of Vitalant’s grassroots outreach and the lessons behind it.  

Why It Matters 

The traditional donor segment is shrinking as Baby Boomers age out of being able to donate, Newhard said. White donors make up about 80% of the volunteer blood donor base, while non-White donors make up only 20%, according to national data the presenters cited from ADRP and America’s Blood Centers. 

That gap has clinical consequences. Patients who need ongoing transfusions, particularly those with sickle cell disease, benefit from closely matched blood. One in three Black donors is a phenotype match for these patients, lacking the key antigens C, E and K. Antigen-matched blood improves outcomes across a patient’s lifetime. 

Dobbins noted that race and ethnicity alone do not determine compatibility, but a more diverse donor base expands the pool of donors with the blood characteristics different patients need. “Diversifying our donor base isn’t just about who is donating blood,” she said. “It is about who are we going to better able to serve because they donate.” 

The presenters also pointed to Hispanic and Latino donors as a growth opportunity. About 60% of that population has Type O blood, according to the presenters. 

The Experience at Vitalant  

Since 2022, Vitalant’s Hispanic donor base has grown 15% and its Black donor base 14%, Dobbins and Newhard reported. Sickle cell-related donation frequency rose 10.8% from September 2025 to September 2026. Hispanic donors grew at roughly 2.3 times the rate of the overall donor base, and Latino donors with type O blood increased 14% since 2023. 

The efforts behind those numbers included a national sickle cell donor outreach that began as low-cost messaging to donors who are potential matches. Vitalant also launched Strength of Us, a research-based campaign aimed at Black donors that was piloted in Memphis, Tennessee, and frames blood donation as community resilience. The organization now offers its website, advertising and online health history questionnaire in Spanish. 

Vitalant’s nonprofit subsidiary PlasmaSource offers a different entry point: paid plasma donation that the presenters described as dignified and distinct from the existing paid plasma industry. It is reaching a younger, more ethnically diverse group, with a mix closer to 50-50 White and non-White donors. “If we want a different donor base, we may also need to create different ways for people to enter it,” Newhard said. 

Trust Starts Inside 

Dobbins stressed that trust cannot be built through a single campaign or event. “Trust is built through consistency and through relationships and through showing up in the communities,” she said. That includes being present when the organization is not asking for anything. “If the only time the community is hearing from us is when we need blood donation, we might be missing an opportunity.” 

She tied that external trust to how employees experience their own workplace. “We can’t separate the employee experience from the donor experience,” she said. Vitalant’s Belonging Together program uses employee resource groups, listening sessions and learning sessions so staff feel valued and heard. Employees who experience belonging themselves are better positioned to extend it to donors, she said. 

Start Small 

When polled, attendees named budget as the biggest barrier to diversifying their donor base. Dobbins and Newhard offered a “start small” checklist that requires few resources: 

• Partner with trusted community leaders and organizations, and invite them to help shape initiatives. 

• Review brochures, websites and social media to make sure people see themselves represented. 

• Check whether Spanish-speaking donors can easily find information in Spanish. 

• Tailor messages to the community, such as the number of local patients living with sickle cell disease. 

• Treat employees as ambassadors, and consider a community leadership council. 

Dobbins asked attendees to identify one action they could realistically take in the next 30 days and who could help them move it forward. “We don’t have to do everything at once, but we do have to be willing to start,” she said.